Down Memory Lane for Nov. 12

May 1, 1980

Barbara Sharon sees woodworking as more of an art form than a profession. Rappahannock Refinishers, the business she began with her partner Sandra Maskas, pays the bills but it also offers Barbara an outlet for her creativity.

Before opening her shop on Route 231 in the F.T. Valley, she learned from Cheri Woodard at Faith Mountain Herbs and Antiques, refinishing pieces with a past.

Barbara puts seven days a week into Rappahannock Refinishers. Sandra, her partner in the business, can only devote part-time to wood. With a degree in social work from Clarion State and hours on her masters from the University of Pittsburg, Sandra is the full-time director of community services for Community Action, based in Warrenton.

Sandra spends evenings and weekends breathing sawdust in the shop and drives her van for pick-up and delivery of furniture. “But she’s not as much into it as I am,” Barbara noted.

Farewell to skiing in Rappahannock — crews from Camelback ski area in Pennsylvania arrived at the deserted Harris Hollow site last week to wind up the cable for the ski lifts. All the ski equipment is scheduled for removal as the property goes up for sale again following the failure of a private ski club concept to catch on.

Thieves broke into the Rappahannock Farmers Coop last week and escaped with approximately $2,000 in cash and checks. According to Sheriff W. A. Buntin, the robbery occurred sometime between 9 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23 and 5 a.m. the following morning.

Buntin said the robbers forced entry through a door on the west side of the building, apparently with a crowbar. Using tools taken off the co-op’s shelves — seven or eight big screw drivers, wrecking bars and a sledge hammer — they broke open the company’s safe.

In 1965 when the Washington Apple Growers was located in this building the safe was cracked and $600 in cash taken. A large safe in Sperryville Corner Store was peeled and $4,000 taken in 1969.

March 27, 1986

If Supervisor Nelson Lane has his way, “slob hunters” in Rappahannock County will face roadblocks in the form of new local ordinances when deer season returns this fall.

Mr. Lane was in Richmond last Friday for the game commission’s hearing on the “slob hunter” problem. After telling the commissioners of a 60-year old widow who was shot by thugs who were hunting illegally, he ticked off a list of complaints.

Mr. Lane criticized the commission’s decision to have an extra five weeks of deer hunting east of the Blue Ridge. (The season runs only two weeks west of the mountains.)

Control of wildlife population “is not vested in the length of the season but through bag limits and enforcement of game laws,” he maintained.

Citing a time during last year’s deer season when only one warden was on duty in a five-county area of the Piedmont, Mr. Lane described as “damn irresponsible” the commission’s policy of allowing officers in its already undermanned law enforcement division to take vacation during hunting season.

The ancestry of the type of honeybees in Rappahannock County could be traced by scientists back to the age of the dinosaurs some 50 million years ago. The ancestral home of honeybees is thought to have been the Himalaya Mountains in South Asia.

Honeybees are not native to Virginia or to this country. Early on there were native bees that functioned with other early insects in the pollination process but none of them produced honey. Honeybees were brought to this country in the early 1600s by English explorers who landed in Virginia. The honeybees were from Europe. The so-called Italian bees are the type mostly being used in Rappahannock County today.

Jane and Maurice Herndon of Greenoch Farm at Sperryville are typical of the average beekeeper in this area of the state, most of whom keep bees for recreation and as a hobby.The Herndons maintain five hives from which they obtain 350 to 650 pounds of honey each season.

The season is usually the five months from April through August.

James D. Russell of Sperryville was preparing his garden for spring planting. He started a fire in a barrel in his garden and then went to work. According to James, “I turned around and the fire had gotten away and was spreading fast. I tried to stop it but it just got out of control.” He left the scene and headed for Baldwin’s West End Shell Station to call the Sperryville Fire Department.

May 24, 1995

Ken Carter and Bob Smith are planning the grand opening at their Trading Post Sporting Goods for this Saturday, but in fact they quietly opened two weekends ago.

The store located just west of Washington on the north side of U.S. 522-211 will specialize in goods for archers and black powder shooters.

But they will carry much more. The store will have a full line of casual menswear. There is also some jewelry and watches moved to the Rappahannock Store from Mr. Carter’s Hartman’s Jewelers in Warrenton and suncatchers and perfumes bottles made by Eric Kvarnes.

The store will offer complete archery service and repair, and lessons in shooting as well as equipment for sale.

Mayhugh’s is one of the newer stores in the county, having opened it doors less than nine years ago.

However, the Mayhugh’s family stores began in 1912, when the original one was opened in Greenwich in Fauquier County, It was started by Frank Mayhugh, the great-grandfather of Michael Mayhugh, the manager of the Mayhugh’s in Amissville.

The store is large and employs from the community.

Clyde W. and Lillie Dwyer Pullen were honored on Sunday, May 7 with a party at the Flint Hill Fire Hall. The occasion was the celebration of their 60th wedding anniversary. The affair was held in Flint Hill because the late Rev. P. H. Chelf united them in marriage at this place on May 8, 1935. One hundred five family, friends and relatives came together to celebrate with them.

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